Business Directories

Euro zone crisis would hit oil demand: Opec

London, January 16, 2012

A worsening of the euro zone debt crisis would further reduce the region's oil demand and could impact consumption in emerging economies that are driving the increase in global fuel use, Opec said on Monday.

In a monthly report, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) slightly trimmed its forecasts for world oil demand growth in 2012 by 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.06 million bpd.

Opec, whose 12 members pump more than a third of the world's oil, said oil demand in European members of the OECD was expected to fall by 160,000 bpd in 2012 and there was a risk the euro-zone economy could contract this year.

"If the situation were to worsen, the effect on the oil market could be seen not only through a further decline in oil demand in Europe but also with spillover effects on oil demand in the emerging economies, amid an adequately supplied market," Opec said.

The report also said that according to secondary sources, Opec's crude oil production rose in December to 30.82 million bpd, the highest since October 2008. – Reuters